Now that I've been at this over 3 years I'm accumulating enough knowledge of my own needs to try to put together a program that directly hits what I'm after.

Here is what I'm pretty confident about:

1) Improving leg drive is a great way for me to improve DL2) I have never done speed work on DL, and I have to train out my very counter-productive habit of being tentative at the beginning of max efforts3) Want to go heavy on back work to improve bench - trading off some pressing volume here4) Must not neglect abs and face pulls5) The 5/3/1 intensity progression works well for me on squats - but I'll backburner bench and press for a cycle or 26) Want to experiment with 3/week, down from 4/week and see if "less is more" will help overall

Throwing all of that into the mix I came up with a program that looks about like this:

A few other points:1) Major lower body accessories are Romanian deadlifts and sled leg press. Volume emphasis, not intensity.2) I'm thinking to do weighted pullups on lower days, 3) Upper days will be volume rowing, face pulls, and abs

Research (McLaughlin) has shown the firing sequence is Back-Legs-Back.

That means breaking the weight off the floor revolves around initialing the drive with the lower back.

Stiff Leg Deadlifts, Good Mornings etc are effective for this.

Certainly, increasing leg strength will have a synergistic effect. However, focusing on increasing leg strength for a Conventional Deadlifter isn't going to cut it.

I recall a "passionate discussion" here some time ago regarding lower back involvement in breaking the weight off the floor.

I cannot speak to the science but I know for a fact I break the weight of the floor with my lower back -- it's almost like getting the bar off the floor is the last part of the setup.

You did not say so outright, but it seems the conclusion is to add some low back work on the 5 lower body days, and I would think it would go after the heavy accessory like Romanians or leg press.

The Glute Guy's article is thorough as always. My conclusion there is that if I have time for only one then the 45 deg back extension would be the place to start -- gives the most uniform torque. But wait, if the good morning provides maximum torque at the bottom, isn't that the closest to the the DL start position, so maybe that will have the most direct carryover? Well, on the third hand, if I've never done lower back work specifically than ANY improvement will provide some carryover and I can refine later.

Kenny, thanks for the detail, I've been meaning to reply for a couple of days.

Lower Back ExtensionsI watched Bret's video on back extension about 3 times and tried it on Tuesday.

* Lowered pads so I could get some bend in the hips* Squeezed glutes hard coming up* Was careful to avoid hyper-extension

Found it very confusing because I ended up with a serious burn in my calves. I must have been involuntarily pushing up onto my toes. Will practice not doing that.

For me this is a learning cycle, my focus is to learn this move

Thoracic ExtensionsNo bands or kettlebells or safety bar in gym, so I tried seated good mornings with a barbell and ended up just lowering the bar more and more down my back to try to avoid the bar rolling at the bottom. Not sure I got anything out of this, must continue to learn it.

Will try the standing barbell upper back good morning next time and see how I fare with that.

For me this is a learning cycle, my focus is to learn this move

Romanian DeadliftsActually did not do these, and will not do them this cycle.

There is a point made in this article: http://www.lift-run-bang.com/2010/05/as ... ifter.html that if an assistance does not improve a main lift, stop doing it. I've done Romanians for some time and can't say they've done anything. I can easily do without for a cycle and try something else.

Two ExperimentsApart from the two learning moves around back extension, I have two more that I am simply going to try to see if they give me an improvement.

LEG PRESS: never had access before. Going to give it a cycle. So far I can say it is very good for inducing days worth of DOMS lol. Whether it does anything else for me remains to be seen.

SPEED DEADS: many people say you must do this and I never have. So same deal, go serious with it for a cycle and then see if I can see any improvement. Only doing speed for DL, and doing it twice in the 4 week cycle (up from zero).

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